Beneath the Starlight
by Van Donovan
Summary: The Fourth Doctor shows Adric his first taste of Earth. FourAdric slash, very mild


Title: Beneath the Starlight 

Pairing: Fourth Doctor/Adric

Written on 11 June 2006

Written by Van Donovan

Written for the LiveJournal community dwliterotica's June challenge.

Beta: Star & Hurricanine

--

The Universe was the Doctor's bedroom. The stars were his blanket, the sand his mattress, the sun his lamp. The Doctor never slept inside the TARDIS, not as far as Adric could tell, at least. Why sleep in the confines of a ship when he could rest beneath any of a hundred million different skies, in a hundred billion different times? A bed in the TARDIS was simply too mundane for the likes of him, and that was a trait Adric was just starting to get used to.

"Where are we now?"

The Doctor pressed a button and the visor on the viewing screen rose, revealing craggy rocks and sand, illuminated only by moonlight. "Earth," he noted casually.

"Earth?" Adric asked. "But I thought you said it was full of oceans."

"It is, my boy," the Doctor replied without lifting his eyes off the console, "but not here. This is a desert!"

His glee at that fact was so contagious that Adric found himself smiling as well. Then his brow furrowed. "What're we doing in a desert on earth?"

The Doctor shrugged, made a face as he considered, walking over to the coat rack. "Let's find out." Studying the items on the coat rack, he regarded his burgundy and plum colored scarf with mild distain. "Well, desert, could be hot, you never know. Probably don't need it."

Without saying another word, the Doctor opened the TARDIS doors and stalked out. Adric followed him closely.

Immediately his eyes were drawn up to the sky where a million pricks of light shone down upon them. The sight was staggering. Stepping away from the TARDIS, Adric spun around, taking in the majesty of the sight. "Incredible!" he breathed.

"Hmm?" the Doctor mused, looking away from the rocky ground to find Adric reeling at the sight of the sky. "Oh? Well, yes. The stars would be particularly nice out here. No light pollutants. No pollutants of any kind, in fact. We must be several thousand years before all that." Seeming to come to himself, he scowled. "Don't you have stars on Alzarius? I know you did, I saw them."

"Yes, but not like these. Doctor, it's beautiful. There are so many."

The Doctor watched Adric and after a moment his expression softened. All too often he ignored the simple beauty of the universe. Adric's unabashed wonder was a refreshing change. Stepping up to stand beside the boy, the Doctor cast his eyes skyward, trying to see it anew. "There are many more stars in N-Space than in E-Space. I forgot how different the sight would be."

For a time the two stood side-by-side, looking up at the stars. "I could lie here and study them all night," Adric sighed contently. He made a movement of dropping to the ground, to stretch out. (Hmm, methinks: 'He started to drop to the ground, preparing to stretch out.' sounds better, but that's just me.)

"Well, that's a common enough pastime on most worlds," the Doctor muttered, then he noticed Adric dropping to his knees and shouted, "Stop!" (Maybe change to: 'the Doctor muttered, then, noticing Adric dropping to his knees, shouted, "Stop!".)

Adric froze in place, half lowered to the rocky earth, looking up at the Doctor in fear that he was about to be attacked.

"What are you thinking, dropping to the ground like that? You'd be dragging dirt and debris all over my TARDIS if I let you," the Doctor chided. In one swift motion, he removed his long burgundy coat, spreading it out over the desert floor. The coat was big enough that when the Doctor lay down on one side of it, there was still room for Adric beside him.

The coat cushioned them against the dirt and most of the rocks, and Adric wasted no time in stretching out beside the Doctor. His hands folded beneath his head so he could look up at the stars above them. It was only then that he noticed that in the distance the earth sloped up around them. They were in the middle of what seemed to be huge bowl-shaped depression in the ground.

"Doctor, what sort of place _is_ this?" Adric asked, propping himself up on his elbows.

"Hmm?" The Doctor looked around too, noticing their location. "Oh, a meteorite site, in fact." He reached over, dabbed his finger in some of the dust, and then placed his finger on his tongue. After a moment of consideration, he smiled. "Nickel-iron composition, mostly. Probably crashed here twenty-thousand years ago."

"Where is the meteorite now?" Adric questioned.

"Well, of course it would have disintegrated on impact, Adric. All that's left would be the crater." The Doctor settled back down on the coat, looking up at the stars. "We must be in North America."

"What's that?"

Sighing, the Doctor explained. "It's what some of the humans call this bit of land, once they arrive here. But they're not here yet. Much too early still."

Adric shifted a little, uncomfortably. The area they were in was desert, and although the ground was warm from having absorbed light from the sun all day, the air was cold. "I feel like I've been here before. It's strange."

Curious of the statement, the Doctor glanced over to Adric. "Well, that's impossible. You've only just arrived in N-Space."

"I know. It's just a strange feeling." Shrugging it off, Adric settled back down, pillowing his head on his arms again so he could observe the stars. "Show me Gallifrey."

"Come now, let's not talk about that," the Doctor muttered. "We're on the wrong side of the planet to see it, anyway."

Adric fell into silence for a bit, enjoying the stars quietly. The air was cool, but the Doctor was warm beside him, and his coat still held residual heat from when he'd been wearing it, so now that the strange sense of déjà vu had passed, it wasn't too uncomfortable. "Have you visited them all?" he asked after several minutes.

"Hardly any," the Doctor confessed, "though it still seems as though I've been to an awful lot of them."

"Which is your favorite?"

"Why, this one, I think." The Doctor patted the ground beneath him. "Something about Earth always seems to fascinate me."

Adric nodded in agreement. "I like it too."

"There's much more to see on this planet than stars and craters," the Doctor noted. "I'll take you somewhere more interesting in the morning."

Adric propped himself up on his elbow again, this time so he could look down at the Doctor. "I look forward to it."

The Doctor shifted his gaze from the sky to Adric. The moon hadn't risen yet, so his face was nearly lost in the shadows, but the starlight was bright enough that he could see Adric was smiling, and his eyes were glittering like stars themselves. He had to smile in reflection.

After a moment, Adric bent down and gently kissed him.

When he pulled back, the Doctor blinked curiously up at him. "What was that for?"

Adric was still smiling. "I like you. On Alzarius, when you like someone, you kiss them." He seemed momentarily concerned. "Don't they do that on Gallifrey?"

The Doctor sat up, still smiling in amusement. "Not entirely, though I am familiar with the custom."

"You're not fond of it?" Adric supplied.

"That's not it." The Doctor studied Adric for a few moments. "It's just, I'm well over seven-hundred years old. I feel that's a bit much."

"Nonsense," Adric said. "Do you feel old?"

The Doctor's brow furrowed slightly as he considered, then he shrugged. "Not at all, actually."

"Well then, that settles it."

"Does it now?" the Doctor questioned, another amused smile gracing his lips as he looked up at Adric. "I'm sure several thousand societies would beg to differ."

Only slightly put out, Adric replied, "Well, they're not here now, are they?" He reached out, carefully brushing the curls on the Doctor's brow aside. They sprang back almost immediately, causing Adric to grin even more.

"Well, I suppose you're right on that one thing."

"I'm right about a lot of things," Adric corrected.

The Doctor frowned, but not severely. "You're an insufferable know-it-all."

"That I am," Adric agreed with a grin. "Which is why you like me."

"That's hardly true," the Doctor protested.

Adric affected an offended expression. "You don't like me?"

"Well of course I do! Wouldn't have you knocking about the TARDIS with me if I didn't," the Doctor replied. Then his expression changed. "Oh, I've just cornered myself, haven't I?"

Adric's grin was smug. "You have."

"Need I remind you I'm Gallifreyian, not Alzarian, and Gallifreyians can like all manner of people without kissing them?" Off Adric's unyielding expression, the Doctor sighed, giving in. "Doesn't matter to you, I suppose. Well, all right," he submitted. "But don't think I do this with every companion of mine."

Adric bent forward to kiss him again, and this time the Doctor closed his eyes and actually kissed him back. "Of course you don't. Just the stowaways."

The Doctor made a noise in the back of his throat that sounded like the beginning of a protest, but the words were cutoff entirely as Adric gently pushed him down on his back, so he could continue kissing him under the brilliant blanket of stars overhead.


End file.
